BICOM

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon said yesterday that Libya has become a new source of smuggled weaponry for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Weapons are available in Libya as a result of the unstable situation there, and Hamas has exploited it to buy weapons from Libyan smugglers,” Ya’alon told foreign reporters. With eastern Libya mostly held by anti-Gaddafi forces, arms are being brought across the border, through neighboring Egypt, to the Hamas-ruled territory, Ya’alon added. Hamas has made no comment on the claim by Ya’alon.

In May, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Services) said that arms smugglers are operating freely in Egypt, as following the toppling of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak security has not been maintained to the same level in the Sinai. In addition the report indicated that hundreds of rockets with ranges of 20-40 kilometres and at least 1,000 mortar bombs and tons of explosives have been smuggled into Gaza since the start of 2010.